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Copyright Terms and Conditions

Client Support Services Guide

Copyright Terms and Conditions

Client Support Services i

Publication Date: January, 2011

Worldwide Headquarters International Headquarters

Blackboard Inc. Blackboard International B.V.

650 Massachusetts Avenue NW Sixth Floor Washington, DC 20001-3796

Paleisstraat 1 1012 RB Amsterdam The Netherlands

+1 800 424 9299 toll free US & Canada

+1 202 463 4860 telephone +31 (0) 20 788 2450 (NL) telephone

+1 202 463 4863 facsimile +31 (0) 20 788 2451 (NL) facsimile

www.blackboard.com www.blackboard.com

Copyright © 1997-2010. Blackboard, the Blackboard logo, BbWorld, Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Transact, Blackboard Connect, the Blackboard Outcomes System, Behind the Blackboard, and Connect-ED are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackboard Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. U.S. Patent Numbers: 6,988,138; 7,493,396; 6,816,878.

Sun™, Java™, JDK™, JVM™, JDBC™, Solaris™, Microsoft®, Windows®, Windows Server®, Windows Vista®, SQL Server®, Internet Explorer®, Oracle®, Red Hat®, Enterprise Linux®, Apple®, Mac OS®, Tiger®, Leopard®, Snow Leopard®, Safari®, Apache Tomcat™, Tomcat™, Mozilla®, Firefox®, JAWS for Windows®, VMware®, Xen™, Wimba Pronto™, Acxiom Identify-X™ are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

No part of the contents of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher, Blackboard Inc.

ALL SUPPORT SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE COMPANY ARE SUBJECT TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE APPLICABLE SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT OR SUPPORT SERVICES AGREEMENT BETWEEN COMPANY AND THE APPLICABLE LICENSEE. BLACKBOARD RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY THIS DOCUMENT, FROM TIME TO TIME, EFFECTIVE FIVE (5) DAYS AFTER SUCH MODIFIED DOCUMENT IS POSTED AT THE RELEVANT LINK, SUCH POSTING TO CONSTITUTE EFFECTIVE NOTICE OF CHANGES

Contents

Client Support Services ii

Contents Introduction ___________________________________________________________ 1

Supported Products ___________________________________________________ 1

Support Categories ____________________________________________________ 2

Support Classifications ___________________________________________________ 3

Company Support Services Options _________________________________________ 7

Basic Support for System Administrators ______________________________________ 8

Basic Support Services Communication Methods _____________________________ 8

Basic Support Services Designated Personnel ________________________________ 9

Basic Support Services Hours of Operation __________________________________ 9

Basic Support Services Severity Codes and Target Response Times _______________ 10

Severity Code1 Issues ____________________________________________________________________ 10

Severity Code 2 Issues ____________________________________________________________________ 11



Case Resolution _________________________________________________________________________ 11

Providing Blackboard Support Access to Your Server __________________________ 12

Exclusions to Basic Support Policies ______________________________________ 12

Enterprise Support for System Administrators _________________________________ 14

Enterprise Support Communication Methods ________________________________ 15

Enterprise Support Services Designated Personnel ___________________________ 15

Enterprise Support Services Severity Codes and Target Response Times ___________ 15

Severity Code1 Issues ____________________________________________________________________ 16




Case Resolution _________________________________________________________________________ 17

Contents

Client Support Services iii

Providing Blackboard Support Access to Your Server __________________________ 18

Exclusions to Enterprise Support Policies ___________________________________ 18

24/7 Student and Faculty Support Services ___________________________________ 20

Blackboard Managed Contact Center Solution _______________________________ 20

Support Portal and Knowledge Base ________________________________________________________ 20

Toll Free Phone-Based Support ____________________________________________________________ 20

Methods of Accessing Support _____________________________________________________________ 20

Support Availability and Scope _____________________________________________________________ 21

Monthly Reporting _______________________________________________________________________ 21

Using the Blackboard Learn Database Schema ________________________________ 22

Support for Database Schema___________________________________________ 22

Unauthorized Database Changes ________________________________________ 22

Supported Products and Service Categories

Client Support Services 1

Introduction The purpose of this document is to provide information on the client services Blackboard Inc provides as well as policies and procedures for administering client support. Included are definitions of the life cycle of supported products and support classifications. Options for the types of support available to clients are defined as well as the terms under which support may be provided.

Supported Products Blackboard Inc., together with its subsidiaries (the “Company”), currently makes Support Services available for certain of its products, based on the support category to which each version of the product has been assigned by the Company and subject to the terms of the applicable software license agreement between the Company and the applicable licensee (the “Agreement”). The Company products that are currently covered (individually, the “Product”; collectively, the “Products”) are as follows:

• Blackboard Learn™ • Blackboard Academic Suite™ • Blackboard Learning System™—Vista Enterprise License (formerly WebCT Vista®) • Blackboard Learning System™—Enterprise License (formerly Blackboard Learning

System™) • Blackboard Learning System™—CE Enterprise License (formerly WebCT Campus

Edition™--Institution License, plus Blackboard PowerLinks™ (formerly the WebCT PowerLinks™ Module), Blackboard PowerSight™ (formerly the WebCT PowerSight™ Module), 2-node Clustering and Enterprise Support)*

• Blackboard Learning System™—CE Enterprise Ltd. License (formerly WebCT Campus Edition™--Institution License, plus Blackboard PowerLinks™)*

• Blackboard Learning System™—Basic License (formerly Blackboard Learning System™--Basic Edition)

• Blackboard Learning System™—CE Basic License (formerly WebCT Campus Edition™--Focus License)

• Blackboard K-12 Starter Edition™ • Blackboard Community System™ • Blackboard Community System™—My Accounts Edition • Blackboard Content System™ • Blackboard Outcomes System™ • Blackboard Portfolio™ (formerly WebCT Portfolio™)

*Includes any WebCT® Modules initially licensed prior to July 8, 2006. Blackboard® Client Support will provide Product Support only with respect to the then-current generally available version of the Product and the two (2) most recent previously issued updates of the Product. Each Product version is assigned to one of the following: Full Support, Operational Support, or No Longer Supported categories, as further described in the Support Categories section of the document.



Support Categories All products are classified into a support category that defines the level of support services that is provided to clients. Each product has a current designated category. Support Categories are subject to change as determined by the Company and the product roadmap.

• Full Support (formerly Category A): Full Support includes product versions for which Blackboard offers a wide range of support options. For the two most recently issued product versions, Full Support includes an active maintenance schedule of Service Packs and Hotfixes and for the older product versions under Full Support, it includes workarounds developed on an as-needed basis. Custom fixes such as patches will only be created for the latest three maintenance releases of products in Full Support.

• Operational Support (formerly Category B): Operations Support includes those product versions for which Blackboard offers a modified support. This category does not include an active maintenance schedule such as corrections, enhancements, bug fixes, Application Packs, Services Packs or other updates made generally available by Blackboard. All issues related to products in the Operational Support category, for which Blackboard does not have an available fix or workaround, will be examined on a case-by-case basis, and may require the client to upgrade to a version with Full Support for resolution, or a separately priced Professional Services engagement. All client calls will be answered, operational assistance will be provided, and issues will be escalated to Product Development.

• No Longer Supported (formerly Category C): No Longer Supported products are not maintained by Blackboard. Clients are strongly encouraged to upgrade. Informational questions regarding product use will still be answered by Client Support.



Support Classifications This table provided the current support category for the Company’s Products as well as a roadmap of anticipated dates for reclassification. This roadmap is subject to change.

Full Support General Availability Date

Anticipated Date of Reclassification to Operational Support

Anticipated Date of Reclassification to No Longer Supported

Blackboard Learn, Release 9.1 • Blackboard Learn for Course Delivery • Blackboard Learn for Community

Engagement • Blackboard Learn for Academic

Collaboration • Blackboard Learn for Outcomes Assessment • Blackboard Learn for Portfolio Management

(CE and Vista)

Mar 2010 Oct 2012 TBD

Blackboard Learn, Release 9.0 • Blackboard Learn for Course Delivery • Blackboard Learn for Community

Engagement • Blackboard Learn for Academic

Collaboration • Blackboard Learn for Outcomes Assessment • Blackboard Learn for Portfolio Management

(CE and Vista)

Dec 2008 Oct 2011 Oct 2012

Release 8.0 of: • Blackboard Academic Suite • Blackboard Learning System--Enterprise

License • Blackboard Community System • Blackboard Community System--My

Accounts Edition • Blackboard Content System • Blackboard Outcomes System • Blackboard Learning System--Basic License

Dec 2007 Oct 2010 Oct 2012

• Blackboard K-12 Starter Edition • Blackboard K-12 SchoolCentral • Blackboard K-12 EducatorCentral • Blackboard ProSites

(Based on current version in deployment)

(not applicable) (not applicable)

Blackboard Learning System--Vista Enterprise License • Vista 8.0

Mar 2008 N/A Jan 2013



Full Support General Availability Date

Anticipated Date of Reclassification to Operational Support


Blackboard Learning System--CE Enterprise License* Blackboard Learning System--CE Enterprise Ltd. License* Blackboard Learning System--CE Basic License* • CE 8.0 • CE 4.2 • CE 4.1 • CE 4.0

Mar 2008 Mar 2006 Apr 2005 Apr 2003

N/A Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010

Jan 2013 Oct 2011 Oct 2011 Oct 2011

Operational Support General

Availability Date


Version 7.3 of: • Blackboard Academic Suite • Blackboard Learning System--Enterprise License • Blackboard Community System • Blackboard Community System--My Accounts Edition • Blackboard Content System • Blackboard Outcomes System • Blackboard Learning System--Basic License

Jul 2007 Oct 2011

Version 7.2 of: • Blackboard Academic Suite • Blackboard Learning System--Enterprise License • Blackboard Community System • Blackboard Community System--My Accounts Edition • Blackboard Content System • Blackboard Learning System--Basic License

Dec 2006 June 2011

Blackboard Outcomes System, Version 1.0 Dec 2006 June 2009


Apr 2006

Oct 2010



Operational Support General Availability Date



Oct 2005 Oct 2010


Jun 2005 Oct 2010

Blackboard Content System, Release 2.3 Jun 2005 Oct 2010

Blackboard Learning System--Vista Enterprise License • Vista 4.2 • Vista 4.1 • Vista 4.0 • Vista 3.0

May 2007 Aug 2006 Jul 2005 Apr 2004

Oct 2011 Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010

Blackboard Learning System--CE Enterprise License* Blackboard Learning System--CE Enterprise Ltd. License* Blackboard Learning System--CE Basic License* • CE 6.2 • CE 6.1 • CE 6.0

May 2007 Aug 2006 Jul 2005

Oct 2011 Oct 2010 Oct 2010

Blackboard Portfolio (for CE/Vista)for Vista 8.0 • for Vista 4.2 • for Vista 4.1 • for CE 8.0 • for CE 6.1 • for Vista 4.0 • for CE 6.0

Oct 2008 Oct 2008 Oct 2008 Oct 2008 Oct 2008 Oct 2008 Oct 2008

Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010 Oct 2010



No Longer Supported Support End Date

Version 6.2 of • Blackboard Learning System • Blackboard Community System

Oct 2008


Oct 2008


Oct 2008

Blackboard Content System, version 2.0 Oct 2008

Blackboard Content System, version 1.0 Oct 2008

Version 3.8 of • Blackboard Learning System—CE Enterprise License • Blackboard Learning System—CE Enterprise Ltd License • Blackboard Learning System—CE Basic License

Oct 2008

All previous Product versions Blackboard Learning System ML, all versions

*Includes any WebCT Modules initially licensed prior to July 8, 2006.



Company Support Services Options The Company currently offers various levels of Support Services options for the Products. Support options are based on the client role in the operations of the Products and the type of licensed Product. There are three (3) levels of services:

• Basic Support for System Administrators • Enterprise Support for System Administrators (includes WebCT Premium Support

initially purchased prior to July 8, 2006) • 24/7 Student and Faculty Support Services

Basic Support for System Administrators


Basic Support for System Administrators Basic Support is included with the following Products:

• Blackboard Learning System–CE Enterprise Ltd. License • Blackboard Learning System–Basic License • Blackboard Learning System–CE Basic License • Blackboard K-12 Starter Edition™

Enterprise Support is available for these products at an additional fee. Please contact your Account Manager or Regional Sales Manager to learn more. If Premium or Enterprise Support has been purchased by a licensee for any of these Products, then Enterprise Support will apply to such Product for such licensee.

Basic Support Services Communication Methods Telephone support – Licensee is eligible to receive support in English from the Company. The Company may make support available in other languages from time to time, subject to the language capabilities of its technical staff. Licensees may request to be assigned to a Technical Support Manager who speaks their language. Where possible, the Company will attempt to provide this service. Licensees accept that this may cause some delays while an available resource in their language is located, and thus may elect to have a faster response in English.

Telephone based support is available Monday through Friday; 8 A.M. – 6 P.M., according to the local time of the geographical location in which the applicable licensee resides (“Local Time”), excluding applicable public holidays listed on our website at http://library.blackboard.com/docs/support/supportholidays.htm

Hours of coverage listed above may vary slightly for those licensees residing in a geographical location which transitions between standard and daylight savings time on other than the more universally observed transition dates. Other variations may occur where Local Time differs from the primary time zone for a given longitude or meridian.

Web-Based Self Service – Licensee is eligible to submit and add notes to cases as well as access to documentation, release notes and knowledge resources.

Case Communications by Email – After a case has been created by telephone or web-based self service, ongoing communication may take place using email, provided that the licensee does so by replying to emails coming from [email protected] and does not alter the subject line.

Support Team of Technical Support Managers (“TSMs”) – Your Support Team of two to four (2-4) TSMs looks at support requests holistically and serves as an internal advocate for ensuring speedy resolution. TSMs are organized regionally to better serve your needs during your business hours.

http://library.blackboard.com/docs/support/supportholidays.htm�

mailto:[email protected]�



Basic Support Services Designated Personnel Licensee may designate up to two (2) of its personnel for purposes of receiving Support, and may designate substitute personnel by providing written notice to the Company (provided that not more than two (2) persons may be designated as support contacts at any given time). These designated personnel should be staff members who have access to the Blackboard administrator interface and has or can easily obtain ssh or VNC/Terminal Services access to the server on which the Product is installed.

Updates and releases of the supported Product, on a when and if available basis, that Company makes generally available to its licensees.

Basic Support Services Hours of Operation Reasonable efforts to respond to all support requests and to remedy any documented and reproducible errors and defects in the Product that are submitted using an approved means within the following targeted response and resolution times. For Basic Support, a business day is defined as Monday through Friday 8 A.M. – 6 P.M., Local Time, excluding applicable public holidays listed below.

United States Holidays 2011 Friday, January 1st - New Year's Day

Monday, January 17th - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Monday, May 30st - Memorial Day

Monday, July 4th - Independence Day

Monday, September 5th - Labor Day

Thursday, November 24th and Friday November 25th - Thanksgiving

Monday, December 26th - Christmas Day

Netherlands Holidays 2011 Friday, 1 January - New Year’s Day

Friday, 22 April - Good Friday

Monday, 25 April - Easter Monday

Friday, 29 April - Queen's Birthday

Thursday, 5 May - Liberation Day

Thursday, 2 June Ascension Day

Monday, 13 June - Whit Monday

Monday, 26 December - Christmas Day

Tuesday, 27 December - Second Day of Christmas



Australian Holidays 2011 Monday, 3 January - New Year’s Day

Wednesday, 26 January - Australia Day

Friday, 22 April - Good Friday

Monday, 25 April - Anzac Day

Tuesday, 26 April - Easter Monday

Monday, 13 - June Queen's Birthday

Monday, 3 October - Labour Day

Monday, 26 December - Christmas Holiday

Tuesday, 27 December - Boxing Day

Basic Support Services Severity Codes and Target Response Times All support requests are important. However, some requests take precedence over others. Support has created four categories for support requests. Requests for support are handled based of severity code assigned to each issue.

Severity codes also determine initial response time targets. The most severe cases have the swiftest targeted response times. Severity level definitions and their response times are described in the sections below. The time a request is logged under Basic Support is the time the call or web-based self service request is recorded by the Company.

Web-based self-service and telephone are the only approved means for initial support request submission under Basic Support. The Basic Support staff is not responsible for responding to requests made by third parties or directly to Company support staff members, or by any means other than those described above.

Severity Code1 Issues Your Blackboard Production Installation [application] is down and not functioning, the system is disabled or non-responsive. Response time for Severity Code 1 is within two (2) hours when submitted during business hours.

Some examples of Severity Code 1 Software errors are as follows:

• Software is down and will not restart • Software is not able to communicate with external systems • Software is generating a data corruption condition.

When a Severity 1 issue is reported, the Company will assign resources to remedy the error; if access to the Product is required, we ask that you provide access to your system and other software for the duration of the error correction procedures.

Severity Code 1 is not be used for Test Environments.



Severity Code 2 Issues Your Blackboard Product is functioning, but major components are unavailable or unusable. The application is running but you may be unable to use major portions of the Software. Response time for Severity Code 2 is within four (4) hours when submitted during business hours.


• An intermittent, critical Software error

• A major functional component is unavailable.


Severity Code 3 Issues Your Blackboard Product is operating close to normal; however minor components are functioning abnormally. Response time for Severity Code 3 is within one (1) business day.

Severity Code 3 errors include non-critical Software errors. Severity Code 3 errors may be fixed in future software releases, including major releases, Application Packs, Services Packs or Hotfixes. Severity 1 and 2 Software errors take priority over Severity 3 issues.

Severity Code 4 Issues Severity Code 4 implies that the Software is operating normally but you may be in need of instructional assistance or you are requesting functionality that is not currently included in the Software. Response time for Severity Code 4 is within one (1) business day.

Severity Code 1, 2, and 3 Software errors will take priority over Severity Code 4 cases.

Case Resolution After the initial response to your support request, Support will respond to subsequent requests within one (1) business day of:

• Case creation

• Email replies to [email protected] emails concerning your case

• Notes added to cases using web-based self-service

• Voicemails or messages left with licensee’s service reps.

Support’s targeted resolution times are:

• One (1) subsequent business day for issues with a solution that has been previously implemented and validated by the Company, provided that the solution has been previously resolved by Company within one (1) business day of its identification by the Company as a known issue (“Routine Issues”).

• A commercially reasonable effort until resolution is reached for all non Routine Issues (“Complex Issues”).

• Targeted resolution times are applicable for implementations operating in certified configurations.




Providing Blackboard Support Access to Your Server To effectively resolve issues submitted, the Basic Support staff may require any of the following information:

• login information for Student or Designer/Faculty members experiencing problems

• login information for Blackboard Administrator

• ssh or VNC/Terminal Services access to the Blackboard server

The targeted response/resolution times described herein are subject to the Company’s ability to obtain, when needed, server access by the means identified by the Company herein. Any request by a licensee for the use of alternative means of server access must be approved by the Company’s support staff in advance. The Company shall use reasonable efforts to accommodate any reasonable request for the use of an alternative means of server access; however, in the case of such an accommodation, the service level agreement targets for initial response, status updates and resolution as set forth herein shall not apply with respect to the specific support request for which an alternative means of server access is used. Such is the case with VPN access.

Lack of server access or lack of server access in a manner supported by the Company as identified herein may cause delays in resolving support requests and may render the Company unable to resolve a support request. In such cases, licensees may wish to consider an on-site, separately priced professional services engagement.

The Company's commitment to providing timely, quality technical support is based upon having sufficient server access to resolve a support request.

As per the following Exclusions section, Basic Support shall not include support for any Product running in an unsupported configuration. In the event a licensee is running a Product in an unsupported configuration and reports a problem, the Company may, at its sole discretion, attempt to replicate the issue in-house at the Company on systems running in a Company-supported configuration. If the Company’s support staff is able to replicate the problem on a supported configuration, the Company may elect to handle the support request in accordance with its standard support procedures. If the Company’s support staff is unable to replicate a problem on a supported configuration, the Company shall refer such licensee to the Company’s Professional Services department for a separately priced professional services engagement and recommend that such licensee move to a Company-supported configuration.

Exclusions to Basic Support Policies The Basic Support described in this document applies only when the Product is installed locally at the applicable licensee’s site or hosted by the Company on behalf of such licensee.

Basic Support coverage does not include environmental-related support requests that involve the following areas:

• Server migration issues*.

• Improper usage of the Product (such as database files removed from the Product, customization of the Product, prohibited usage, and so on).

• Unsupported changes to the database such as directly writing to the database or using the database schema to alter or delete records.



• Assistance with understanding data relationships as presented in the database schema documentation in order to write or format queries.

• Improper installation and configuration of operating system components*.

• Improper hardware configuration for size of deployment*.

• Hardware (server) problems*.

• Server operating system problems*.

• Non-supported 3rd party tools used with Product (except those where a support partnership exists).

• Issues arising with Products hosted by a third party, unless agreed upon in writing in advance by the Company (where such permission has been granted, issues arising as a result of the third party which would not have occurred with a Company hosted instance of the Product are excluded).

• Issues arising on an unsupported configuration.

• Issues known by Company not to be related to the Product application itself.

*Separately priced professional consulting services are available – Contact a Company Account Representative to learn more.

Enterprise Support for System Administrators


Enterprise Support for System Administrators Enterprise Support provides broader and deeper support coverage for institutions running in mission-critical and complex Enterprise environments. Enterprise Support is provided on a 24/7/365 basis, which provides customers with round-the-clock support services.

Enterprise Support also provides technical support for complex implementations of the Company’s products and is highly recommended for installations which involve any of the following elements:

• Multiple servers

• Load balanced and/or clustered environments

• Blackboard PowerLinks or Blackboard Building Blocks®

• Authentication integration

• SIS integration

• Blackboard PowerSight or advanced reporting

Enterprise Support is included with the following Products:

• Blackboard Learn

• Blackboard Academic Suite

• Blackboard Learning System —Vista Enterprise License

• Blackboard Learning System—Enterprise License

• Blackboard Learning System--CE Enterprise License*

• Blackboard Community System

• Blackboard Community System--My Accounts Edition

• Blackboard Content System

• Blackboard Portfolio

• Blackboard Outcomes System

• Enterprise Support Option for Blackboard Learning System--CE Enterprise Ltd. License*

• Enterprise Support Option for Blackboard Learning System--Basic License

• Enterprise Support Option for Blackboard Learning System--CE Basic License

* Includes any WebCT Modules initially licensed prior to July 8, 2006.



Enterprise Support Communication Methods Telephone support – Licensee is eligible to receive support in English from the Company. The Company may make support available in other languages from time to time, subject to the language capabilities of its technical staff. Licensees may request to be assigned to a Technical Support Manager who speaks their language. Where possible, the Company will attempt to provide this service. Licensees accept that this may cause some delays while an available resource in their language is located, and thus may elect to have a faster response in English.

Telephone-based support is available twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven days (7) a week, three hundred and sixty-five (365) days a year.

Web-based Self Service – Licensee is eligible submit and add notes to cases as well as access to documentation, release notes and knowledge resources.

Case Communications by Email – After a case has been created either by telephone or web-based self service, ongoing communication may take place by email, provided the licensee does so by replying to emails coming from [email protected] and does not alter the subject line.

Dedicated Technical Support Manager (“TSM”) – Your Support Team of two to four (2-4) TSMs looks at support requests holistically and serves as an internal advocate for ensuring speedy resolution. TSMs are organized regionally to better serve your needs during your business hours.

Enterprise Support Services Designated Personnel Licensee may designate up to two (2) of its personnel for purposes of receiving Support, and may designate substitute personnel by providing written notice to the Company (provided that not more than two (2) persons may be designated as support contacts at any given time). These designated personnel should be staff members who have access to the Blackboard administrator interface and has or can easily obtain ssh or VNC/Terminal Services access to the server on which the Product is installed.

Updates and releases of the supported Product, on a when and if available basis, that the Company makes generally available to its licensees.

Reasonable efforts to respond to all support requests and to remedy any documented and reproducible errors and defects in the Product that are submitted using an approved means within the following targeted response and resolution times.

Enterprise Support Services Severity Codes and Target Response Times All support requests are important. However, some requests take precedence over others. Support has created four categories for support requests. Requests for support are handled based of severity code assigned to each issue.

Severity codes also determine initial response time targets. The most severe cases have the swiftest targeted response times. Severity level definitions and their response times are described in the sections below. The time a request is logged under Enterprise Support is the time the call or web-based self service request is recorded by the Company.




Web-based self-service and telephone are the only approved means for initial support request submission under Enterprise Support. The Enterprise Support staff is not responsible for responding to requests made by third parties or directly to Company support staff members, or by any means other than those described above.

Severity Code1 Issues Your Blackboard Production Installation [application] is down and not functioning, the system is disabled or non-responsive. Response time for Severity Code 1 is within one (1) hour.


• Software is down and will not restart • Software is not able to communicate with external systems • Software is generating a data corruption condition.


Severity Code 1 is not be used for Test Environments.

Severity Code 2 Issues Your Blackboard Product is functioning, but major components are unavailable or unusable. The application is running but you may be unable to use major portions of the Software. Response time for Severity Code 2 is within four (4) hours.


• An intermittent, critical Software error

• A major functional component is unavailable.


Severity Code 3 Issues Your Blackboard Product is operating close to normal; however minor components are functioning abnormally. Response time for Severity Code 3 is within one (1) business day.

Severity Code 3 errors include non-critical Software errors. Severity Code 3 errors may be fixed in future software releases, including major releases, Application Packs, Services Packs or Hotfixes. Severity 1 and 2 Software errors take priority over Severity 3 issues.

Severity Code 4 Issues Severity Code 4 implies that the Software is operating normally but you may be in need of instructional assistance or you are requesting functionality that is not currently included in the Software. Response time for Severity Code 4 is within one (1) business day.

Severity Code 1, 2, and 3 Software errors will take priority over Severity Code 4 cases.



Case Resolution After the initial response to your support request, Support will respond to subsequent requests within one (1) business day of:

• Case creation

• Email replies to [email protected] emails concerning your case

• Notes added to cases using web-based self-service

• Voicemails or messages left with licensee’s service reps.

Support’s targeted resolution times are:

• One (1) subsequent business day for issues with a solution that has been previously implemented and validated by the Company, provided that the solution has been previously resolved by Company within one (1) business day of its identification by the Company as a known issue (“Routine Issues”).

• A commercially reasonable effort until resolution is reached for all non Routine Issues (“Complex Issues”).

• Targeted resolution times are applicable for implementations operating in certified configurations.




Providing Blackboard Support Access to Your Server To effectively resolve issues submitted, the Enterprise Support staff may require any of the following information:

• login information for Student or Designer/Faculty members experiencing problems

• login information for Blackboard Administrator

• ssh or VNC/Terminal Services access to the Blackboard server

The targeted response/resolution times described herein are subject to the Company’s ability to obtain, when needed, server access by the means identified by the Company herein. Any request by a licensee for the use of alternative means of server access must be approved by the Company’s support staff in advance. The Company shall use reasonable efforts to accommodate any reasonable request for the use of an alternative means of server access; however, in the case of such an accommodation, the service level agreement targets for initial response, status updates and resolution as set forth herein shall not apply with respect to the specific support request for which an alternative means of server access is used. Such is the case with VPN access.

Lack of server access or lack of server access in a manner supported by the Company as identified herein may cause delays in resolving support requests and may render the Company unable to resolve a support request. In such cases, licensees may wish to consider an on-site, separately priced professional services engagement.

The Company's commitment to providing timely, quality technical support is based upon having sufficient server access to resolve a support request.

As per the following Exclusions section, Enterprise Support shall not include support for any Product running in an unsupported configuration. In the event a licensee is running a Product in an unsupported configuration and reports a problem, the Company may, at its sole discretion, attempt to replicate the issue in-house at the Company on systems running in a Company-supported configuration. If the Company’s support staff is able to replicate the problem on a supported configuration, the Company may elect to handle the support request in accordance with its standard support procedures. If the Company’s support staff is unable to replicate a problem on a supported configuration, the Company shall refer such licensee to the Company’s Professional Services department for a separately priced professional services engagement and recommend that such licensee move to a Company-supported configuration.

Exclusions to Enterprise Support Policies The Enterprise Support described in this document applies only when the Product is installed locally at the applicable licensee’s site or hosted by the Company on behalf of such licensee.

Enterprise Support coverage does not include environmental-related support requests that involve the following areas:

• Server migration issues*.

• Improper usage of the Product (such as database files removed from the Product, customization of the Product, prohibited usage, and so on).

• Unsupported changes to the database such as directly writing to the database or using the database schema to alter or delete records.



• Assistance with understanding data relationships as presented in the database schema documentation in order to write or format queries.

• Improper installation and configuration of operating system components*.

• Improper hardware configuration for size of deployment*.

• Hardware (server) problems*.

• Server operating system problems*.

• Non-supported 3rd party tools used with Product (except those where a support partnership exists).

• Issues arising with Products hosted by a third party, unless agreed upon in writing in advance by the Company (where such permission has been granted, issues arising as a result of the third party which would not have occurred with a Company hosted instance of the Product are excluded).

• Issues arising on an unsupported configuration.

• Issues known by Company not to be related to the Product application itself.

*Separately priced professional consulting services are available – Contact a Company Account Representative to learn more.

Student and Faculty Support Services


24/7 Student and Faculty Support Services Blackboard managed contact center solutions are designed to provide the Customer with a comprehensive multi-channel contact center to support ongoing academic and administrative technology initiatives. In addition to providing 24/7 help-desk support for students and instructors, the Customer will have access to a privately branded and managed support portal, including knowledge base, animated tutorials and related support resources and knowledge base. In addition, the Customer will have a dedicated account manager and receive detailed monthly reports, providing important metrics and diagnostics that will allow the Customer to fine-tune e-learning offerings over time.

24/7 Student and Faculty Support Services are available for all products and all related application subsystems.

All of the solutions outlined herein will be privately branded for customer – including dedicated phone line, voice scripting and knowledge base support solutions.

Blackboard Managed Contact Center Solution The Blackboard Managed Contact Center Solution includes the services outlined below.

Support Portal and Knowledge Base A fully hosted, web-based knowledge base designed to encourage self-service and empower users to maximize the value of their Blackboard teaching and learning environment.

• The Blackboard Knowledge Base allows for customized branding and integrates within and throughout the Blackboard system

• Link directly to the Blackboard Knowledge Base from the login page, or directly from a course by clicking on the “help” icon

• The Blackboard knowledge base is searchable, customizable, and fully managed by a dedicated Blackboard account manager

• Includes knowledge base articles, tip sheets, and animated tutorials

Toll Free Phone-Based Support Phone operation is fully staffed and available for both campus-based and distance learners 24/7/365.

• Phone service can be privately branded to provide scripting and messaging for a seamless experience for users and administrators

• Strict Service Level Management Approach

• Detailed monthly reports providing number and type of service requests, as well as depth of usage within each of the application subsystems (for example grade center, assessments, virtual classroom)

• Based on type and nature of inbound calls, Blackboard will make recommended approaches for managing the Customer Knowledge Base

Methods of Accessing Support This support package will include knowledge base and phone-based support for all named students and faculty members.

Student and Faculty Support Services


Support Availability and Scope Support will be available to faculty and students 24/7/365. 24/7 Student and Faculty Support Services are limited to help desk support for faculty and students for covered Products.

Monthly Reporting Included in the support package are monthly reports outlining all incidents received during the period categorized by severity and affected application area. This information is useful in adjusting certain program aspects to reduce the number of end-user problems in future months.

Database Schema Usage


Using the Blackboard Learn Database Schema With the release of Blackboard Learn, Release9.1, Service Pack 1 (9.1.452.0), documentation is available that describes the data characteristics of the tables and columns in the Blackboard Learn 9.1 database, including: data types and sizes, null ability, index, sequence, key and constraint information. Additional commentary is also provided for key tables and columns.

By agreeing to the terms of your license, Customers can download this set of documentation for the purposes of building read-only queries and designing custom reports. The schema can also be used to perform analysis and troubleshooting.

Customers are not permitted to make changes to the schemas presented.

Customers are permitted to access the schema by employing the user interfaces, APIs, and tools such as Building Block schema.xml, and Building Block persistence APIs. In specific circumstances, Support may provide scripts to resolve a situation; however, any other changes to the Blackboard schema may only be done with a Blackboard Consulting engagement. Please contact your Account Executive if you would like to work with our consulting team to make any changes to your Blackboard database.

Support for Database Schema Support can provide assistance with access to the database schema documentation as well as interpreting which tables correspond to the different features or features sets of Blackboard Learn.

Support will not provide assistance with:

• Writing queries

• Understanding database relationships

• Creating advanced reports

• Running Customer created queries

Unauthorized Database Changes The Company cannot support unauthorized database changes. Customers that make an unauthorized change will be informed that such a change has occurred. Customers may:

• Restore a backup of their system prior to the change

• Engage Blackboard Consulting for assistance by contacting the Customer’s Account Executive. Consulting typically has a 4 week scheduling lead time. If the Customer can wait for available database expertise, Consulting will work with the Customer to diagnose the issue and determine potential resolution and best course of action. A statement of work/consulting contract will be needed.

blackboard® support services...blackboard ® client support will provide product support only with...

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